


Just Like Me (with someone disappointed in you)

by ChiaRoseKuro



Series: A World of One's Own [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Drabble, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Prompt Fic, Songfic, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-14 21:34:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14145039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChiaRoseKuro/pseuds/ChiaRoseKuro
Summary: Sasuke closes his eyes and says, “Congratulate him for me.”There’s other words sitting at the back of his throat, pleasant nothings likeI hope he’s happyandeveryone must be so pleasedbut his tongue is leaden and his eyes refuse to open. A thumb brushes against the back of his hand and a voice tells him “I will,” but all he feels and hears is rain.(she's meant to be his everything, but Sasuke has never liked things that came easily to him)





	Just Like Me (with someone disappointed in you)

**Author's Note:**

> For those who were accidentally pinged with an update for this... I'd gone and hit 'post' instead of 'save' and ended up uploading the drabble before I could do some cosmetic fixes, so I thought I'd delete it instead of subjecting everyone to the horrible lack of formatting. Sorry if you were affected by it (and back to the original-ish notes)!
> 
> I don't want to ruin anything, but two of the three relationships listed are unrequited... and depending on how you see things, this either stays the same or gets reduced to one by the end of the drabble. If you're not a fan of emotional infidelity or implications of heterosexual sex, you're best off pressing the 'back' button now.
> 
> Special thanks to Linkin Park's _Numb_ for providing (somewhat unexpected) inspiration in the hours it took to write this, the prompt 'I never meant to come between you and him' being a vague but significant presence in this fic... and that's all for the dedications. Short and sweet, for once; isn't that a surprise?

* * *

 

She joins him in between one visit and the next, a shadow drifting at his periphery that he neither acknowledges nor chases away. Sasuke has told her ‘no’ enough times that she should know better, but she’s an adult—he’s put his hand through her chest, and _still_ she comes back for more. If it’s her heart’s desire to help with his atonement, who’s he to stop her? So he keeps his Rinnegan in check and she pushes herself to the edge of chakra exhaustion, but they keep pace with one another.

They’ve just cleared the Leaf-Sand border when Sakura finally joins him, slipping into camp like she’d been there the whole time. There’s no need for nods or polite handshakes between them—she leans in for a kiss and he meets her halfway, lips carefully slotted against hers. Like this, with no need for words, he could almost call the moment perfect.

It certainly hurts less than a fingertip against a forehead.

Without Kakashi and Naruto there, it’s… not quite like their genin days, but he could almost be fooled into thinking it. He sets up the perimeter and she gathers firewood for later. They stay on the alert for food and come back with enough for two—an assortment of berries for him, a few game birds for her. Dinner is plain and spent in silence, nothing like the raucous yelling the dead last used to do no matter how everyone told him to shut up, but… it’s comfortable. It’s something he could get used to.

So Sasuke slips off to take first watch as soon as he’s swallowed his last bite. If Sakura has anything to say, he doesn’t hear over the clamour of his thoughts.  
  


* * *

  
Sand settles in between his toes and throughout his hair, no matter what Sasuke does to get rid of it, and Sakura’s looking just as put-upon when they seek refuge in a cave. There’s no running water to be found here, not when the air sucks greedily at his sweat and leaves encrusted salt in its wake, so can he really be blamed for luxuriating in Sakura’s water jutsu? Any water, even chakra-molded, is precious in times like this.

It’s just a pity that he can’t conjure it up himself—fire has always been his specialty, and water has always felt like forcing a camel through the eye of a needle. Sasuke nods his thanks to Sakura because the days she’d make a big deal out of it are long gone, and true to form she only smiles and nods back.

But with the water washing away their aches and inattention from Sand’s unforgiving climate, it brings back conversation and thought Sasuke doesn’t care for. Even the cautious gleam in Sakura’s eyes isn’t enough to make him stay seated or keep his limbs from tensing.

“How are you?” Sakura asks, voice too soft and high and hesitant for his liking.

“Fine,” Sasuke bites back.

He’s not, of course; with all his wandering in the name of atonement, in between camping beneath the stars and roughing it atop trees, Sasuke knows the night more intimately than he knows any other. Going back into Konoha is comforting, that much is obvious to him, but lingering for more than a day—it makes him itch, seeing complacency stamped onto every passing face and soft glows where hard edges should be. For all that Sakura comes close to the ugliness in life, it’s not the same.

And judging from the way her eyes darken just a little, Sakura knows it too.

But when she reaches out, fingers skimming his—there’s no hesitation, no deference of the sort she’s had ever since they were on the same team and she’d say, _Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun!_ Has she been spending more time around Naruto, picking up on his obnoxious habits several years too late?

_Is it really that obvious?_ Sasuke thinks to himself. _Am **I** really that obvious?_

The fingers, for all their forwardness, are still too soft and slender for his tastes. For all that it’s a little better…

“Excuse me,” Sasuke forces out, and stalks deeper into the cave.

He doesn’t look back to see if Sakura’s going to excuse him or not—because she will, she always does, and it doesn’t matter to him anyway. _Let her do what she wants,_ he tells himself, and stays in the dark until it’s time to set out again.  
  


* * *

  
They’re just stepping into never-ending rain when Sakura says, apropos of nothing, “Naruto proposed to Hinata a month ago.”

For an eternal, breathless moment, Sasuke stares through his fringe and into the gloomy haze. Sakura’s nattering on, describing the romance and slow burn in gushing words he doesn’t hear, but she stops when he turns sharply to her. There’s uncertainty in her eyes when he reaches to her but only caution when his fingers intertwine with hers.

It’s still wrong, still too soft and slender with none of the calluses he expects, but Sasuke closes his eyes and says, “Congratulate him for me.”

There’s other words sitting at the back of his throat, pleasant nothings like _I hope he’s happy_ and _everyone must be so pleased_ but his tongue is leaden and his eyes refuse to open. A thumb brushes against the back of his hand and a voice tells him “I will,” but all he feels and hears is rain.

_How poetic,_ Sasuke laughs at himself. He’s just as flawed as he is pathetic and it’s only now, with his heart shattering in his chest, that he can finally see it.

“Are you okay?” Sakura asks when he doesn’t let go, and he shakes his head.

“Come with me,” he says eons later, and her hand tightens in his.

It’s easy, too easy, to move forward with her by his side and her warmth a counterpoint to his cold.

(and if he pushes into her with a little more desperation than he should…)

**Author's Note:**

> For those who didn't catch it, NaruHina was the only mutual relationship at the beginning and SasuSaku was the ambiguous one. Sadly (or not), Sasuke's love for Naruto was destined to die a cold death.
> 
> For further author notes and other things related to this fic or series, feel free to check out my [blog](https://chiarosekuro.wordpress.com/). I've got other writing stuff on there as well, if that piques your interest, but you're best checking out 'Just Like Me' or 'A World of One's Own' if you want this fic/series specifically.


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